Monday, October 31, 2011

31 October 2011, Kuala Lumpur – Final Round results confirm that Malaysia beat Moldova 2.5-1.5 and that team Malaysia finished in 11th spot behind Kazakhstan, Switzerland, England, Slovakia, all of whom scored an extra 0.5 board point more than Malaysia’s 21.0 board points! Tough but that’s tournament life for you!

Final Round Results:-

Good news is that Roshan Ajeet Singh might just win a bronze medal for the Reserved Players list by winning five points out of 8 rounds of play.

Pix 2. Elgin, Roshan, Jianwen took a fun ride on the Free Day. Photos from official website.

Pix 3. (From 2nd left) Jianwen, Yeoh Li Tian, Roshan Singh, Elgin on another fun ride during the Free Day in Turkey. Photos from official website.

The World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad official website reported that 2011 World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad's ninth round has staged very surprising scores. The leader Armenia gave up 2,5 points against Kazakhstan, who started the olympiad on the sixth place with 2201 average Elo. In the clash of two players at first board, Alibek Igambergenov beat his opponent IM Karen Grigoryan. The struggle continued also at second board. Ayan Akhmetov also achieved to win against FM Hovhannes Gabuzyan. At the end they defeated one of the most strongest team in the Olympiad. As a result Armenia moved to the second place with 25 points. At second table, Russia became proud victor in the game against Malaysia with 0.5-3.5 score. This satisfactory result helped Russia placed first before the final round. After defeating Georgia with 3.5-0.5 the Iranian Team placed third with 24.5 points.

Latest News: From live games, Malaysia won 2.5 – 1.5, Moldova with Yeoh Li Tian and Roshan Singh winning the board games while Eng Chiam (Pix 1) the half-point on third board. Well done, team Malaysia!

This means, Malaysia have scored a total 21.0 points from the ten rounds of play. We should finish higher than Turkey-Red, who just lost 0-4 to India. Georgia won 3-1 against Syria giving Georgia a total 21.5 points. So we finish behind Georgia and above Moldova and Syria.

As the event move into its final week before the 4th November closing date, more than 50 players from 6 counties - Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines and host Malaysia have submitted their registration forms to the organizing secretariat. There were also a few applications received from India and Sri Lanka which are awaiting approval from the respective Federations, with Australia and China in the midst of finalizing their representatives for the event.

For Malaysians, a few notable players who are right about the "ceiling mark" has confirmed their participation including another few who have voiced their interest to play. Zaidan Zulkipli (2069), blogger Nor Ilhamuddin Shaikh Ali (1984) and former National Player Ismail Ahmad (1989) have already committed to participate with Ahmad Fadzil Nayan (2009), Stonemaster Fadli Zakaria (2048) and Jax Tham (2076) looking almost sure to participate as well. The highest rated player so far registering for the event is Brunei's Aliuddin Azahari (2085) with local Zaidan Zulkipli (2069) ranked as second highest.

With 5 more days to go before the closing date, the organizer is expecting a flurry of registration and participation to be received as they scramble towards the 4th November deadline. Players registering after the deadline are at risk of paying an additional USD25 as penalty for late registration.

With a total prize fund of USD7,000 for the eventual winners and USD1,500 for the winner, this will be one of the more lucrative prize fund ever offered to "normal chess players" - quoting Quah Seng Sun's words in his STAR column, "players who are just like you and me". With the ceiling rating is set at FIDE 2100, this is truly an "open" event where everyone has an almost equal chance to earn the coveted Asian Masters Title.

To add more carrot to the winner, in the recent ASIAN CHESS FEDERATION committee meeting, ACF has agreed to award the title ASIAN MASTERS to the 3 winners in each category - Open, Women and Unrated. Whilst the title may not be as well known as the GM or IM title, it is nonetheless a title to be proud of - to be known as the best Amateur Chess Masters in Asia. To attract more participation for the event, the MALAYSIAN CHESS FEDERATION will award each participant with the ASIAN AMATEUR OPEN & WOMEN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP Certificate of Participation to all players in the tournament.

Players who would like to stay at the 5-star Crown Plaza Mutiara - where the event is being held, can request for a booking form to reserve their room at a special rate by sending an email to the organizing secretary. Those who are from out of KL and would like to know more about other places to stay around the playing venue, please download the following brochure available at www.chess-malaysia.com/AmateurHotel.pdf which provides a list of several available hotels located within 15-30 minutes walk from Crown Plaza Mutiara.

For more information, updates and clarification, feel free to contact the Organizing Secretary, Najib Wahab at +6016 338 2542 or email him at najib.wahab@chess-malaysia.com. You can also follow more news and information on this event, and any other events in KL via our Facebook link at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chess-Malaysia/168231673260531

30 October 2011, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia won against Georgia in the 8th round of the World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad in Turkey, 2.5-1.5. The heroes were Yeap Eng Chiam and Roshan Ajeet Singh giving important points and the draw from Elgin Lee Kah Meng.

30 October 2011, Kuala Lumpur – In Turkey, the Malaysia-Switzerland game ended in a 2-2 draw. Roshan Ajeet Singh turned hero by saving the team with an emphatic win on board four. Wong Jianwen and Elgin Lee Kah Meng provided the draws on boards 1 and 3.

Pix 3. Black played 42…Qc6+, white resigned. If white plays 43.Kf1, then black checkmates with Qh1#. If Kh2 or Kh3 or Kg1, black should play Qf3 followed by pawn push to e2 at the appropriate opportunity. Well done to Roshan for a beautiful finish!

After seven rounds, Malaysia has 15.5 points and in ninth position behind Switzerland. Russia is currently tops with 20 points, followed by Armenia, 19.5 pts, and Azerbaijan in third with 18 points.

Malaysia now plays Georgia in the 8th round.

A look at the live games on the official website indicate that the score is currently level at 1.5-1.5 after three boards have completed. Again Roshan Ajeet Singh is our saviour with a win on board 4, while Elgin gave us a half-point on board 2. The third board game has just concluded with a major win by Yeap Eng Chiam for Malaysia. This means Malaysia won 2.5-1.5 against Georgia!

Friday, October 28, 2011

28 October 2011, Kuala Lumpur – Last night the Malaysia lost to a better Kazakhstan chess team, 1.5-2.5 but not without a good fight. Yeoh Li Tian and Wong Jianwen on second and first board gained some respect for the Malaysian team by winning some points off the sixth ranked Kazakhstan team.

Here is the winning game between Yeoh Li Tian of Malaysia playing white against A Akhmetov of Kazakhstan during the sixth round of the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad 2011 in Turkey.

Additional Info: 3rd OLE-OLE SHAH ALAM CHESS OPEN 2011 or 3rd OSACO, is an annual chess tournament recommended and organized by My Chess Diary Ent. with cooperation and support from Ole-Ole Shopping Centre. The third edition offers two categories as in previous years, namely Open and Under-12. All participants and chess enthusiasts from around the country, especially from Shah Alam, Selangor are invited to participate in the 3rd OSACO.

For the first two editions, stands OSACC has been used to represent Ole-Ole Shah Alam Chess Championship. This year, the organisers of the event will replace the shortform from OSACC to OSACO. For knowledge, the runner for this event already apply to make 3rd OSACO is National Rated chess tournament that will be included in the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) consideration in order to determine MCF National Chess Rating. This is the main reason why the tournament is open to Malaysian chess player only.

2nd OSACC participant were most welcomed when all the participant last year received ad-hoc RM 50 voucher from the sponsors at the very last moment during the registration. This make 2nd OSACC very rare and special event, and hopefully this time, there is some more surprise and let us hoping that way

3rd OSACO is heartened by the willingness of the country’s number one chess player, IM Mas Hafizul to participate in the 3rd OSACO and to threaten to win the title from 2nd OSACC champion, Kamaluddin Yusoff and 1st OSACC champion, NM Zarul Shazwan Zulkafli. The presence of all three big names will be accompanied by a large number of other players who play a major role in determining the final position of the top 10 places in the Open Category. For the Under-12, their inclusion is expected to make this new generation even more advanced in chess in addition to taking the experience and gain the opportunity to see the country’s greatest chess players compete against each other.

Due to demand of using digital chess clock and tournament standard of chess set, the OSACO event will be using both tools, which is especially booked from the very well-known chess center in Kuala Lumpur, DATCC.

May the upcoming 3rd OSACO become one of the favorite chess tournament crowd in Malaysia.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

27 October 2011, Kuala Lumpur – In Turkey, the Malaysian team had an overwhelming win 4-0 over Turkey-Turkuaz. Judging from the name and some pictures from the official website, this Turkish team is largely a girls team.

Pix 2. White played 47.Rxa6+ and black resigned. The white pawn along the b-file is almost about to queen with the white rook coming to its rescue just in time. White gained tempo with the check on the black king on the 47th move.

27 October 2011, Kuala Lumpur - At the DATCC was held the one day 7 round swiss System rapid tournament called STONEMASTER PRO 2011 organized by Cerdik Catur Enterprise. The event was won by Nur Nabila bt Azman Hisham ( pix above ) scoring six points from 7 rounds.

Second place was won by Ahmad Fadzil Nayan and third, Kamaluddin b Yusof. Both scored 6 points from 7 rounds.
Sixty eight players participated in this event yesterday.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

26 October 2011, Kuala Lumpur – In Turkey, the Malaysian squad has been drawn to meet with team Turkey Turkuaz. Turkey has three teams in this tournament. Two of this Turkey Turkuaz chess team are girls as shown in the above picture.

The teams will play one round tomorrow and will rest on Friday, 28 October 2011. The schedule of the tournament chess Olympiad is as shown below:-

The game between Malaysia and Turkey-Turkuaz is currently being played as I write this post and the board pairings are shown below:-

Wong Jianwen is given a rest for this round and Yeoh Li Tian takes top spot followed by Elgin Lee Kah Meng on second, Yeap Eng Chiam on third board and Roshan Ajeet Singh on fourth board. Elgin is playing against a Turkish girl, Aleyna Yigit (pix above) while Yeap Eng Chiam is playing against another female Turkish player, Gamze Nur Guney (pix above).

26 October 2011, Kuala Lumpur – The Negeri Sembilan Chess Association is organising two tournaments this coming weekend, 29-30 October 2011. The Age group (Under-12 and Under-18) category will be held on the 29 October 2011 and the Open Category on the 30th October 2011. Venue will be at Plaza Ampangan, First Floor, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.